Bacardi has named Team USA winners of the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup 2012, which took place at the vodka brand's home, New Zealand.

The winning team defeated crews from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, plus all-star and wildcard trios.

Team USA was made up of Beckaly Franks from Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon; Steve Schneider from Employees Only, New York; and Ken Kodys from Breckenridge Brewery, Denver, Colorado.

Organisers said Franks, Schneider and Kodys produced balanced and well executed drinks and delivered a “highly choreographed” stage show.

In keeping with the event’s theme, Lab Experiment, Team USA centred their performance around the American comic The Incredible Hulk.

In what Bacardi described as an “incredibly tightly contested final”, Team New Zealand took second place with Team Great Britain coming in third.

The judging panel comprised New Zealander Jacob Briars, the UK’s Tony Conigliaro, Australian Marco Faraone and American bartender John Lermayer.

Lermayer said: “They are three very different individuals but they had a lot of national pride. They managed to take three different styles and morph them together. They were the tightest team of the week and it stood out.”